Taking place on Outdoor Classroom Day, this webinar focuses on Covid-19 recovery and the importance of play, with an emphasis on the outdoors.

We were joined by guest speakers Dr Naomi Lott, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Oxford and Corinne Latham, Interim Director for Curriculum and Assessment, CCEA.

Dr Naomi Lott shared her doctoral research findings on Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – the Child’s Right to Play. Naomi’s research scrutinised the right to play: the challenges faced in realising the right, the obligations pertaining to it, and recommendations for changing its status as the ‘forgotten’ right, offering an important contribution to the child rights field.

Focusing on the impact of Covid-19 on children and school life, Corrine Latham shared the importance of access to play as a key aspect of Covid recovery within schools. Highlighting the A Fair Start report on educational underachievement, the significance of a play-based curriculum was discussed.

The webinar also includes the launch of PlayBoard’s Taking Outdoor Play Seriously (TOPS) and Positive Playgrounds programme supported by the Department of Education. The play programme, focused on Covid recovery, supported 20 schools across Northern Ireland to enhance their outdoor play offer and improve children’s school-based play experiences during the academic year.